Ramesh Ayyala, MD & Jasmina Bajric, MD

USF Health Eye Institute

Dr. Ramesh Ayyala, MD, FRCS, FRCOphth, Professor and Chair, University of South Florida, Department of Ophthalmology, USF Health Eye Institute.

 “Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back and reasons to stay.”– Dalai Lama XIV

 Dr. Ayyala returned to his Tampa roots to assume the role of Chair of USF Health, Department of Ophthalmology where he did his ophthalmology residency.  Along with his stellar faculty he is building a center of Eye Care Excellence in the recently opened 27,000 square foot USF Health Eye Institute.  Dr. Ayyala enjoys a medical career spanning three continents and is board certified in all of them.  He completed medical school at Gandhi Medical College, Osmania University, an Ophthalmology residency in the UK and a second residency at USF.  He completed two fellowships, one in glaucoma at Massachusetts Eye and Ear infirmary, Harvard Medical School and one in cornea/external disease at Boston University Medical Center.  Dr. Ayyala is a fellow of the Royal College of Ophthalmology (London) and the Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh), and the American Academy of Ophthalmology.   A commitment to academic excellence inspired him to develop an online board course. His easy smile puts his patients at ease during their exam. 

 It is seeing the devastating effects of glaucoma on a daily basis which motivates Dr. Ayyala’s research projects. In his first year at USF, Dr. Ayyala brought together PhD’s and MD’s involved in optical research to form the first-ever Vision Research Group at the University of South Florida

 Giving back to communities is a driving force behind Dr. Ayyala helping to establish the Anand Eye Institute in India, and establishing the Glaucoma Awareness Programs which provide screenings in the African American Community Churches in the Greater New Orleans Area.  Following Hurricane Katrina, he established an Eye Screening Program in Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish. Through the Community Ophthalmology Outreach Program of Anand Eye Institute and the Savera Anand Foundation (based in Hyderabad, India), his organization conducted  eye camps designed to screen under privileged populations. Dr. Ayyala is a tireless crusader for providing access to quality care to the indigent population. He plans to do the same in the Tampa Bay area. 

  Dr. Ayyala lives his passion of patient care, teaching, and research in Ophthalmology every day and he rarely sleeps.  

 Jasmina Bajric, MD

Assistant Professor
Associate Residency Program Director
University of South Florida, Department of Ophthalmology, USF Health Institute

 Dr. Bajric is a board certified ophthalmologist and oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon. She graduated medical school and was awarded the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Award and the Gold Humanism Honor Society Award for academic excellence and compassion. She received the John Dyer Graduation award following completion of her ophthalmology residency at the world renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  During her residency Dr. Bajric completed additional training in oculoplastic surgery at the prestigious Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, England. Dr. Bajric was one of only twenty individuals in the country selected to complete a fellowship in oculoplastic and orbital surgery through the American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ASOPRS). Dr. Bajric is one of the only surgeons helping patients with complex orbital cases in the Greater Tampa Area.

She serves as assistant professor and head of oculoplastic and orbital surgery at the University of South Florida and Tampa General Hospital.  Dr. Bajric is the Associate Program Director for the Ophthalmology Residency program at the University of South Florida.